26.06.13
CQRS payment system launched for GPs
A new service to calculate payments for GP practices is launching tomorrow for the 2013/14 financial year, the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has announced.
The Calculating Quality Reporting Service (CQRS) will replace the existing QMAS system from Thursday June 27. CQRS will assess GP practice achievement against the quality and outcomes framework (QOF), directed enhanced services, and other clinical services.
The system has been piloted in four areas, and training is available to make the switchover as simple as possible.
It will reduce the time spend by GP practices, allow payments to be calculated for nationally-commissioned enhanced services, be available for longer periods of time to allow for earlier measurement of achievement and provide greater flexibility for GPs.
Beverley Bryant, director of strategic systems and technology at NHS England, said: “Credit must be given to the HSCIC for delivering CQRS under challenging circumstances. Feedback from the pilot sites has been particularly positive and we look forward to CQRS playing an integral part of the end to end service to support commissioners and service providers across the NHS.”
Vanessa Young, practice manager at the Vine Medical Centre in East Molesey, Surrey, was involved in the development of CQRS. She said: “CQRS will mean that there will be a reduction in the administration that already occurs at the practice as a lot of the calculation process is manual and CQRS will help to reduce the need for that. I think the biggest challenge is to ensure that practice managers know that CQRS is not a like-for-like replacement of QMAS and that the service will do a lot more.”
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]